Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 5-door wagon body style within the same 'Large family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (4 x 4 for the Volkswagen and front in the case of the Opel). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 275hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 170hp engine designed by Opel.

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Volkswagen being a slightly better choice apparently. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, Passat offers a considerable difference of 29% more metal.

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, when all the models are taken into account. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Volkswagen, as well as Opel, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. Independent research findings rank Passat as average reliability-wise, and Vectra is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as Passat rank it on average as 5.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.0 out of 5.

Volkswagen is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 2.2 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 250 kilometers per hour, 28km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be Vectra, averaging around 10 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (28 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 32% difference compared to Passat!

Volkswagen appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Passat beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. It all continues in the same direction, with Volkswagen outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the Volkswagen. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.